A Laidley mother has had a close call, after coming across not ten but 16 Eastern Brown snakes, while wading through floodwaters near her home this week.
Michelle McKenzie and her son Broden said they had been attempting to rescue their chickens from floodwaters after the recent, heavy rain.
“The water had come up quickly and we went in with some tubs to try and capture the chickens, which were almost floating away,” she said.
“Unfortunately halfway through, I noticed a very large brown snake started swimming towards me and I realised that being in the flood water wasn’t the best place to be.
“I ended up with quite a few of them under the house and it was quite nerve-racking to be down in the water with them,” she said.
The Laidley mother said her 17-year-old son was also nearly bitten while trying to capture chickens in their coop.
“He hadn’t seen the snake in the coop on the perch and it had struck at his hand and he was just lucky he was able to pull away in time.
“It was then that I decided to call it quits because four chickens weren’t worth getting bitten over,” she said.
Ms McKenzie said that in hindsight they were lucky that the snakes were more concerned about getting onto higher ground than attacking them.
“I counted about 16 snakes trying to get up under the house, in the rubbish bin or anywhere that wasn’t in the water.
“The snakes were eventually washed down the creek,” she said.
Most of the chickens survived but one died in the floodwaters that swept through Laidley in the Lockyer Valley on Tuesday.
The Eastern Brown Snake is rated as one of the most venomous in the World.
